Live from Bahia

We left Rio Saturday and flew North to Salvador de Bahia. We had a few minor complications at the airport, they could not find our reservations at first, all 11 of us, and then we temporarily lost the boom pole. For the band it was a little worrisome, for me it was documentary gold. |Only in Brazil could I film in the airport and the airplane. In the states I would have been detained by Homeland security, but here I was able to walk around the plane filming and film our landing. Pretty sweet. Ian taught me how to play chess on the plane and gave me a greta idea for another documentary.

When we got to Bahia we took a minivan to pick up our volkswagen bus that we will be driving for the rest of the shoot. While Ty was getting the car Francisco and I had fun with some neighborhood kids who were watching a soccer game. Great footage. Then we were off to our hotel on the beach. By the time we got here we had just enough time to shower and get dressed for the wedding the band was playing in later that night. We had planned on filming the bands performance at eh wedding but the sound system was terrible and the wedding was really over the top. It was actually decorated with pink and green neon and confetti kept falling from the ceiling over the dance floor. So we did what any good film crew would do we hit the buffet and the bar and headed home early.

We left at 7:30 this morning to head to Madre de Deus, Mother of God, a small island an hour north of us, where we were going to film a traditional ceremony that combines elements of Candomble, a religion that comes from Africa, and Catholicism. We followed three vans to the island picking up people along the way. The event was refered to as a church washing ceremony, and yet they never did wash the church. When we got to the church the men in the vans, the Filhos de Gandhy, came out all dresed in elaborate blue and white costumes with beads and feather head dresses. There were also drummers and dancers and most importantly, the Baianihas, women of all ages dressed all in white, with huge hoop skirts, carrying white flowers to the sea to give as an offering to the orishas, or gods. As the ceremony was about to begin the priest, dressed all in blue and white and carrying an atomizer of scented perfume took me by the hand and led me to the front of the procession. There were literally hundreds of people lined up waiting to participate as he used a water bottle and shook water in three directions and then didi the same thing again with perfume before touching the ground and giving the sign of the cross. He then went to each Baianiha and blessed them with an atomizer of the perfume in the sign of the cross again. Then he came to me and didi the same thing and thanked me for being a part of the event. Then we took off everyone dancing the entire way. The crowd on the sides of the procession was enormous and the longer we walked the more people joined us. Behind the Baiainihas was the priest followed in order by the Filhos de Gandhy, the bandiera, or drummers and finally a huge truck with a booming soundsystem. We walked for two miles and everyone involved let me weave in and out of their respective groups. The priest kept taking me by the hand and leading me to the things he wanted me to film. It was truly spectacular. The whole thing ended at the water where the Baianinhas were supposed to throw the flowers into the water as an offering. The beach was packed with people in bikinis dancing, swimming and drinking, with massive soundsystems playing booming music as the procession arrived. The Baiainhas laid their flowers down in front of the church and went inside. We decided to capture the flower tossing from the water so we waited there framing the shot. After about 30 minutes we went to check and make sure that they were still coming to finish the ceremony. Ty found out that they were not going to throw the flowers in the water because it was too hot and they wanted to go home. Oh well, it was still great footage and a great day. Being in the middle of all of that being blessed by a Candomble priest just reminded me that |I have the best job in the world.

After getting back to the church where we left the van we headed to Pelourinho, the colonial capital of Bahia to catch the Filhos de Gandy rehearsal at their hall in the towns center. It was a blue and white hall that reminded me of a large social club. The band played on the stage and men dance in a circle in front. I filmed a few songs and we made arrangements to come back Wednesday to interview the public relations coordinator about the group.

Afterwards, we met up with the rest of the crew and watched a live samba performance in the street. Again, fantastic. The entire street was full of people singing along and dancing. We drank huge beers out of tiny cups and danced in the streets. I filmed some of the performance but after a long day of shooting my battery died. No worries though, after all it is only day 4...